Deadrise (Book 2): Blood Storm

by Siara Brandt

  That brought an unholy howl from the impaled creature. It immediately stiffened and then collapsed in a heap on the ground where it sprawled, apparently, and hopefully, dead. If indeed it could die.

  Loch was still panting as he looked at Hollis and then at the other men who remained frozen in place with horrified looks on their faces. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that the wind had stopped. Rising up from the thing on the ground was the stench of death and blood, gagging him and making him want to retch.

  He looked down at his hands that were slick and slimy with a mixture of fresh and black, congealed blood and he had to make even more of an effort to keep the nausea from rising up into his throat.

  “What are those things?” one of the men asked, looking down at the two bodies.

  “What were they,” another man corrected under his breath.

  Loch and Hollis had immediately gone to wash their hands in the bucket of water that had been meant for the after-breakfast dishes. Behind them, they heard, “They’re people, aren’t they? But- ”

  Hensley Wade didn’t finish. He didn’t know what to say. No one did. Neither one of the things on the ground was moving, but dark blood was still seeping out over the ground from beneath them.

  “But they look like some kind of demented ghoul,” Loch finally answered.

  “We’ve got to tell somebody about this,” Hensley said.

  “Yeah, we have to report this,” they all agreed.

  “It was self-defense,” another man said. “Anybody could see that.”

  “You sure that’s not makeup?” Hensley asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  No one wanted to get close enough to find out.

  “It just kept coming,” Hollis said in a voice that was still half breathless with shock. “Even after Loch drove the saber right through its neck.”

  “That can’t happen,” one of the men said.

  But it had happened. They had seen it with their own eyes.

  The men looked at each other. “What’re we dealing with here, Hollis?”

  Hollis was still visibly shaken. “I don’t know,” he answered them. “But we need to find out.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Hensley suddenly asked under his breath. He had his binoculars trained on the long sweep of the valley that stretched out below them. “Something is going on over in Arundel,” he said as he handed his binoculars to the man standing beside him.

  That man uttered his own oath before passing the binoculars to the next man.

  Far in the distance, just visible through the trees, a long line of military vehicles was winding its way along the road that led to Arundel.

  Chapter 2

  _______________

  “I still think you should come and stay with me for a while. I have plenty of room.”

  Sighing inwardly, Ailin fixed her gaze on a sign across the diner as she repeated the same reply she had given not half an hour ago. “This isn’t a good time.”

  As usual her sister pretended not to hear her answer. “It would do you good to get away from all this.” Edmina made an almost imperceptible motion of her impeccably-manicured hand which made the diamonds sparkle on her finger. It was a disparaging sweep that indicated everything and, at the same time, nothing at all. Her face expressed no emotion after the subtle slur, except, perhaps, for a slight predatory gleam in her eyes that she was not completely successful in concealing.

  But Edmina was nothing if not self-possessed. She could regain her poise at lightning speed. She looked blandly indifferent as she picked up her coffee cup. As Edmina sipped daintily at the hot, mocha-colored liquid, Ailin stared at the red lipstick mark on the rim of the porcelain cup and wondered vaguely when her sister had started drinking coffee.

  “I can’t take off work right now,” Ailin explained for the second time that morning, even as she chided herself for lying. The truth was that there was nothing pressing at the moment that couldn’t wait. She could take off as many days as she wanted to. And she had already made up her mind to quit her part-time job, so that wasn’t an issue, either. Not that Edmina knew anything about her second job. Ailin had never told her sister about that. But why, Ailin thought with a sudden flash of irritation, did she have to be reduced to lying in the first place? She was old enough to make up her own mind about what she wanted to do. Or didn’t want to do. If only Edmina would realize that herself. Not that Ailin was holding out any hope that that was ever going to happen.

  “You’re the boss. You make your own rules, don’t you?” Edmina arched one questioning eyebrow as she touched her napkin to her lips and waited for a reply.

  Outside the diner window, a police car sped by. The red and blue lights were flashing but Ailin didn’t hear a siren.

  Edmina gave only a fleeting glance at the police car before she re-focused on her sister. “Are you listening to me, Ailin?”

  “I’ve taken too many days off already,” Ailin replied absently, committing herself to yet another lie as a second police car raced by.

  In truth, her divorce had taken very little time or effort. She’d lost only half a day for a court appearance. She wished that her marriage had been as effortless. And if only these visits from her sister and her sister-in-law weren’t so trying. This definitely was not how she wanted to spend her first days of freedom. She had grown tired of the psychological game-playing long ago, and already this visit, only hours old, was beginning to wear on her. From past experience, she knew it would only go in one direction from here. Downhill.

  As it was, Ailin had already spent too much time and money getting ready for her sister’s visit. She’d paid a small fortune to have her dark curls expertly trimmed. She’d bought two expensive new outfits, and she’d splurged on her own manicure. But it still didn’t change anything. Even though they lived hours away from each other now, during these rare visits, Edmina still had the annoying ability to make her feel mousy. Drab. Uninteresting. Like her life didn’t quite measure up. Like the outsider she had felt like her entire life, even when she had lived up north in Ashwood.

  For the first half of breakfast, the two women seated across the booth from her had devoted themselves to their first, second and third rounds of criticism and gossip in much the same manner that they attacked their food. With a voracious appetite.

  Edmina speared the last bit of omlette on her plate, hesitating with her fork in midair before she put the food in her mouth. She chewed slowly as she contemplated her sister. “So you never told me, Ailin,” she said after she swallowed. “Did you divorce Rylan because he was cheating on you? Was there another woman?” She sat back against the padded burgundy booth seat, watching Ailin like a cat that was probing for a weakness and savoring the hunt before pouncing.

  Ailin wasn’t about to add that particular bit of ammunition to her sister’s personal arsenal. After a brief internal struggle, Ailin heard lie number three roll off her tongue. “No.”

  Lying, it seemed, got easier with practice.

  Seated next to Edmina, their sister-in-law, Bevanne, made a low guttural sound in between bites of her own food. Whether it was an actual comment of some sort or whether it was simply because she was eating, Ailin couldn’t be sure. Bevanne shrugged beneath her tailored red jacket. She had broad shoulders for a woman and she was solidly built. Her ruddy complexion looked even more flushed because of the red jacket. When Bevanne was going after something, or someone, she had the tenacity of a bulldog. And maybe, Ailin thought, that’s just what Bevanne was. Edmina’s bulldog. At the moment, however, Bevanne’s focus was on one thing only. Her food.

  “Then what exactly did go wrong with the marriage?” Edmina asked, feigning an air of indifference. “You never bothered to tell me.”

  “The same thing that goes wrong in other marriages, I suppose,” Ailin answered her sister, trying to maintain her own shield of nonchalance. “We just grew apart.”

  She could see right away that it wasn’t the answer
Edmina had been fishing for. She was on the scent of blood and that usually made her relentless, if not downright ruthless. After a brief flash of irritation showed in her eyes, Edmina commented blandly, “It’s too bad that you had to leave your whole life behind you, just to come all the way down here and find yourself at a dead end.”

  “I don’t look at my life as a dead end, Edmina.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant. But you do have to start all over again. I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you. I would be devastated if Thad ever left me.”

  Only Rylan hadn’t left her. The separation had been mutual. Technically, their marriage had been over long before Rylan had found someone else. In fact, they had been living apart for nearly a year now.

  Their sister-in-law, Bevanne, took that moment to add her own comment. “Coming up for a visit just makes sense, Ailin. A divorce isn’t easy for anyone and of course you need time to process it all. A change of scenery would do you good, make you look at things realistically.”

  “What exactly do you think I’m not seeing realistically?” Ailin couldn’t help asking.

  Edmina patted her chin-length hair even though, as usual, there wasn’t a single strand out of place. “We just want to make sure you don’t get caught up in the emotional turmoil that is inevitable during a divorce. It could cause you to make impulsive decisions. You have been known to do that on occasion, you know.”

  Probably hoping to keep that hint of a smirk from showing on her face, Edmina glanced down at the sharp creases along the center of her cream-colored slacks to ensure that they were perfectly straight. Then she checked to make sure her cameo pink silk shirt was immaculate. She even took a moment to brush off some non-existent crumbs.

  “Marital discord takes a toll on everyone,” Edmina informed her as if she couldn’t figure that out on her own. When she looked up again, she added just the right amount of empathy to her expression. “You might not even be aware of it yourself, but over time, it can shake anyone’s confidence. Even the strongest person goes through a difficult period of adjustment. We only want what’s best for you, Ailin. That’s why we’re here.”

  Unfortunately, Ailin knew that wasn’t strictly the case. And that change of scenery that they were suggesting meant enduring the hectic pace and the congestion of the suburbs of Chicago once again. It meant being in close contact with her family on a daily basis. She wasn’t up to that right now. She had made the adjustment to small town life eight years ago and she had no desire to go back to her old life and all the stresses that went along with it.

  Bevanne brushed a sifting of pastry crumbs from her bright red sleeve. “Of course she knows that we want what’s best for her,” she chimed in with her perpetually-nasal accent, which was followed by her usual irritatingly-hollow laugh. “Why else would we be here?”

  Why else. Ailin could name several different reasons. She looked around the diner and found herself thinking that both women looked woefully out of place in the casual country restaurant. From Edmina’s expensive, fashion-conscious clothing and her conspicuous gold jewelry, to Bevanne’s massive designer bag, bright red jacket and mannish haircut. Maybe in Chicago they would blend in with the crowds, but no one dressed up for breakfast here in Willow Grove at 9:00 in the morning. Except for Edmina and Bevanne. They stood out like Eskimos in a nudist colony.

  Ailin had never been a part of the social hierarchy that had defined life up north in Ashwood. Financially it was true that she didn’t measure up. She never would. Both Edmina and Bevanne had married men with more money than they could spend in a lifetime, while Ailin was starting from scratch after a divorce and still working hard to get her business off the ground.

  The one thing Ailin did have going for her was that she didn’t need a man the way that they did. She could make it on her own. She had made it on her own and she would continue to do so. On her own terms. Even if that meant she was what they would consider a failure at what mattered most to them. Making money.

  Obviously, Ailin had been a disappointment to her mother, too. Shortly after she had moved to Willow Grove, her mother had come right out and tearfully and bitterly asked her why on earth she couldn’t have found a decent man to support her the way that Edmina had.

  At twenty-eight she still had no suitable answers. Not for her mother. Not for any of them. At least no answers that would make them look at her any differently.

  “It’s going to be another hot day,” Edmina remarked, narrowing her gaze on a small group of people who had just come into the diner. To Bevanne she said, “We picked the wrong time to visit. We should have come next week. Or the week after.”

  “It’s supposed to cool off tomorrow.” Ailin informed her.

  But Edmina went right on as if she didn’t hear her. “It’s a good thing the hotel, at least, has air conditioning.”

  It would be a hot day, Ailin agreed. Which was unusual for September. Unfortunately, Edmina and Bevanne didn’t seem to have the ability to survive without air conditioning. They would make sure to spend every minute of their visit at the hotel, or at the diner or any other place in Willow Grove that had air conditioning. They absolutely wouldn’t stay at Ailin’s house which had no central air.

  “And here I had thought that you might like to get away for a while,” Edmina said, allowing a hint of petulance to show in her voice.

  Bevanne took a sip of coffee and added another two cents worth of speculation. “She’s probably gotten used to the slower pace down here where everything is safe and predictable. Where she doesn’t have to take any risks.”

  Ailin clenched her teeth together. Bevanne had a really annoying habit of speaking for everyone else. And risks? If anyone had taken any risks, it was her.

  Don’t let them get to you, she told herself. That’s what they want.

  Edmina and Bevanne shared a brief look.

  “I think that what Bev means is that the city has so much more to offer,” Edmina said as she lifted her coffee cup to her lips and watched Ailin over the lipstick-imprinted rim. “If you’re starting over, that makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “I agree with Mina. You’re missing out on so much here.” Bevanne took another bite of her cheese Danish and flakes of crumbs sifted down the front of her red blazer, unnoticed this time.

  Ailin stared at the crumbs. “Like what?” she couldn’t help asking. “Bumper-to-bumper traffic? Crime? Smog?”

  The sharp glare that Edmina shot over the rim of her coffee cup told Ailin that she didn’t expect, nor did she appreciate, her outspoken defense of small-town life. Of her life.

  “No. Like socializing. Career opportunities. And actual shopping malls,” Edmina said, her tone hardening with just a hint of hostility. Her gaze flickered critically over Ailin’s new blue outfit. Her claws were out now. Edmina had never liked being challenged.

  So it was no surprise that Edmina would get around to criticizing what she was wearing, even if she did it silently. That certainly was nothing new. But the fire-engine red blazer that Bevanne was wearing was beyond reproach? Of course, the blazer would be perfectly acceptable because Bevanne had probably paid a fortune for the hideous thing. She certainly wore it often enough. And as long as it had the right label on it . . .

  “If you come stay with me, Ailin, we can have fun doing some serious shopping,” Edmina said almost too brightly. “We can get you a new wardrobe. A new hair style. It would be the beginning of a whole new life for you. Isn’t that what you want?”

  The sudden sadness that Ailin felt wash over her was not for the criticism itself. It was for the fact that things had to be this way. That they had always been this way.

  Bevanne clucked her tongue impatiently as she looking around the diner. “You would think,” she said. “That our waitress would see that we need another re-fill of coffee.”

  After their waitress did come over and re-fill their cups, Bevanne tore open several packets of artificial sweetener. “That’s how it is in small towns,”
she commented knowingly as she stirred the white powder into her coffee. “They wait on the regulars before they wait on the out-of-towners.”

  “I’m sure that’s not the case,” Ailin said quietly.

  Bevanne shrugged her red-clad shoulders, dismissing Ailin’s comment and making another one of her own. “She’ll have to be more attentive if she is hoping for a decent tip.”

  Ailin had to bite her tongue to keep from saying what was on her mind. The truth was that no one would want to wait on Edmina and Bevanne, even if they were regular customers. They were so blatantly snobbish that it was almost an embarrassment for Ailin to be there with them. They had spent the last hour criticizing the waitress. The customers. The décor. The food. The entire town. And they didn’t seem to care who heard them.

  “By the way, Ailin,” Edmina began. “You have heard of the flu epidemic down here, haven’t you? It was all over the news when we were leaving. It seems to be getting worse.”

  Actually, getting ready for this visit had taken up most of Ailin’s time. She hadn’t even turned the TV on for the past two days until this morning. And then it was just to find that the TV wasn’t working.

  “You had better get yourself a flu shot,” Edmina advised her. “You do have a clinic somewhere nearby where you can get one, I hope. We’re going to get ours as soon as we get back home.

  “Speaking of home,” Edmina said as she added sweetener to her own cup. “You’ll be selling the house now that the divorce is final, of course. You are going to sell it, aren’t you? I mean, you’ll want to move some place where you actually have neighbors.”

  “I have neighbors,” Ailin answered her. “They’re just not crowded all around me.”

  “But don’t you want to look out your door and see actual people instead of cows and corn fields? It seems so- dangerous living alone out in the middle of nowhere. You don’t really want to be stuck away in an old farm house forever where you have no prospects of a decent job, or even meeting a decent man.”